Rewatched OTH and then listened to Dinner For Vampires

I last watched the show in high school and while I loved it, I didn’t look up any of the actors or behind-the-scenes news about them. This time, since I joined this sub, I got to know a lot of information like what the cast was going through during filming all those years. After finishing the show, I picked up Joy’s audiobook. I picked the audiobook over the ebook because I wanted to listen to the cameos by other cast members. Unfortunately the version I got doesn’t have it. But I honestly really liked the audiobook by then anyway and quickly flew through the second half.

The audiobook doesn’t say a lot about OTH other than the initial days and how it affected Joy’s life and how her being in a cult affected her life on the show. I admire her for being so good at her job that none of the stress that she went through for a decade showed on screen. She acted so well that she was perfectly Haley on screen and I didn’t think of her outside the story. Joy mentions how her mind flipped like a switch when she had to act but wow, to know what was happening in her life and knowing that her on-screen life was soo different from that, it shows what a good actress she is.

The book is really well written. I wish we got more healing and happier moments at the end so that we could experience her life after she left the cult a bit more. It was such a heavy book but she included all of the creative joy she felt during those times too. i LOVED how she gushed about everyone on the cast and admitted to her faults which kept them from developing friendships with her. I liked her writing voice and how she makes us understand that it’s not a clear-cut thing, anyone could find themselves in her position if a manipulator finds them at a vulnerable time. It’s so sad that she lost all of her OTH earnings and I’m glad to see that she’s back to being creative and working. (Crazy that she has/had to pay her husband alimony, though?!)

I’m looking forward to her next book! It’s fiction and seems like some of the themes are inspired by her experiences. I liked how she wrote this so I‘m looking forward to reading that when it’s available.